On February 23, Nigerian voters re-elected President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over his main challenger from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar. Elections were originally set for February 16, but five hours before the polls opened, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the elections by a week, citing logistical and security challenges. The postponement drew outrage from supporters of both APC and PDP, but it was hardly unprecedented: Nigeria’s elections in 2011 and 2015 were also delayed.

In late 2018, one small pilot initiative in the election day process changed the story of inclusion in Nigerian democracy. For the first time ever, voters with visual impairments in Osun - a state in southwest Nigeria - cast their ballots, unassisted, using a newly developed Braille Ballot Guide. This Braille Ballot Guide was the result of tireless advocacy by Nigeria’s premier Disabled Persons Organization (DPO), Inclusive Friends Association (IFA), under their campaign, #AccessNigeria: Disability Votes Matter.

A record 80,281 candidates representing 278 political parties and movements competed in Ecuador’s March 24 regional elections – over three times as many candidates as in 2014. These were the first regional elections since Lenin Moreno was elected president and adopted a reform agenda opposed by former President Rafael Correa, effectively splitting the Country Alliance (Alianza Pais, AP) which had governed Ecuador for ten years. The results suggest a reshuffling in Ecuador’s political coalitions ahead of the 2021 presidential and National Assembly elections.

A democracy is only as strong as the voices of its women. Not only do women activists hold governments accountable to the needs of women, but the fight for gender equality also provides avenues for other marginalized groups to shape their country’s political system as well. In Kosovo, where conflict in the 1990s left communities divided along ethnic lines, with many cut off from government resources, women are taking the reins to make their government accountable to all citizens.